Bunny Hunt - July 17, 2010

The bunny is again hopping. It has not been well for a while and several things had to be replaced and repaired. It is now ready for Saturday, July 17th. We are having a bunny hunt with summer time treats as the prize for everyone that participates. A Bunny Hunt is the ham radio version of hide and seek. The bunny will be hidden and everyone is invited to find it by homing in on its signal. The Bunny operates on the 2 meter band allowing anyone with a 2 meter handheld to join in on the fun of locating it. Here are some tips when using only your 2 meter handheld. To get a direction bearing, a simple method is to use body shielding. Hold the handheld radio close to your body and orientate yourself so the handheld is receiving the signal. Then slowly turn until the signal bars or the audio level is at its lowest level. At that point, the direction of the transmitter is directly behind you. If you have full bars on your handheld meter or the signal volume is not changing as you rotate, try tuning 5 or 10 KHz away from the bunny's transmitting frequency and/or removing your antenna. (Remember; do not transmit with the antenna removed or on the bunny frequency.) This will usually attenuate the received signal enough to give you usable information. The more in the clear, away from obstruction and sources of reflections (cars, metal fences, etc.), you are the more consistent and reliable your bearings will be. Once you get a direction bearing, move a distance to either side of the first bearing direction and obtain another bearing. This will give you a triangulation of your two directional bearings that give a general direction and area of the bunny. Sometimes signal reflections can give you false directions, so you may have to do several directional bearings from different locations as you try to locate the bunny.

Check in: An announcement will be given on the 146.640 repeater at 2:45 PM. Those participating, please check in with bunny hunt control. The 146.640 repeater will be used during the bunny hunt for general questions and help.
Hunting area: The bunny will be placed somewhere South of 2500 North.
Bunny Frequency: 144.700 MHz (simplex)
Start Time: 3:15 PM. The bunny will be turned on and it transmits for 30 seconds out of every minute. The starting location is where ever you are when the bunny is turned on. If you don't hear the transmission, drive to a different location and listen again. Towards the end of the search time, a call will be given on the 146.640 repeater for anyone needing help in locating the bunny so we can all be together for the treats.
End time: 5:00 PM. Treats will be served near the bunny's hiding location.

Those of you who will be using beam antennas be prepared to tell us all about your beam antenna and your setup for transmitter searching. Come join in on the fun of hunting for the bunny and enjoy some ice cream, watermelon, and cold pop.